Aging apartment complex near downtown to be replaced with luxury building

The old Skylane Central apartments just off the Taylor Street bridge leading into the Woodland Heights is expected to meet the wrecking ball soon.

Apartment developer Greystaris under contract to purchase the property and plans to replace it with what could be an eight-story multifamily complex. The above rendering is one of the scenarios the company is considering.

They all look the same. The rents are too high, and the shocker is that very first rent raise. I have read some reviews in apartmentreviews.com, I think, and some of these apartments are not rated very well at all.

I have heard that lenders won’t provide funds for condo projects until they are a certain percentage pre-purchased, which makes getting that loan pretty tough. So they build the apartments and then a few years later start selling them as condos. You can see this all over town, now.

Gee thanks for your compassion. That “eyesore” happens to be my home, and the home for a BUNCH of other families and people who have lived there for decades in some cases. We’re all really happy to move out of your way so you don’t have to look at us anymore. Yuppie pig.

well I can tell you from experience, there is a market for these places. Rents are high and people are paying! I leased a townhome (in an apt complex)off allen pkwy and studemont from 2008-2010 for $1500/month, that same townhome today is over $2k/month. I realize rents go up, but over $500?? thats pretty steep

Texas needs some rental controls because these increases are many many times over the salary increases that the average person receives. When the average raise is about 4% and your rent goes up about 10% every year something has to give. My rent has increased 300 dollars over the last three years.

Why does this matter? Prospective tenants in Houston seeking to live near the rail have few rental properties chasing their dollars. Dallas doesn’t have that problem. Up there landlords compete with one another, whereas down here tenants compete for landlords.

That is not the reason rent is cheaper in Dallas. For all those rail miles and billions of dollars, Dallas gets approximately 80,000 boardings a day. Houston gets approximately 35,000 boardings a day on its 7.5 mile line. A high majority of these luxury apartments in Houston aren’t even close to our rail line.

Maybe, rent is higher in Houston because even with all its sprawl, majority of the things to do (concerts, top restraunts, art, sports, etc …) are centrally located. I really don’t know though ?

Cheaper rent in Dallas has NOTHING to do with light rail!! I am not even sure how you can even compare the two.

Dallas has lower rent because the demand to live in the city of Dallas is sharply lower than in the city of Houston. Take a look at the 2010 census for example, Houston grew by 7.5%, Dallas only grew 0.8%. When the number of people who are willing to live in a certain area remains constant or grows… rent goes up! Rent is just a response to the local economic conditions. If for some reason all of a sudden no one wanted to live inside the city of Houston and the rental vacancy rates sky rocketed, then rent would fall through the floor.

Dallas is unique because people in the Dallas area aren’t that willing to live inside the city of Dallas. Even Dallas’ downtown commercial class A rental space vacancy rate is very high and that is where all their light rail lines meet up!

And in fact, they’re still renting out those apartments to people. Can you imagine signing a lease and spending the money it takes to move and get set up in a new place, only to discover that it’s already been sold and no one told you?

@tman If it were you working your cheeks off to pay the rent and have somewhere to live at that “eye sore”, then you wouldn’t be making such a snotty comment. It’s a shame people view “ugly” things as simply something to toss in order to not have to see something so unseemly with their gold coin eyeballs.

Good job thinking about other people who happen to be outside of the richie rich status.

you do have to admit that it does look like an eyesore. clean it up, or whatever, this has nothing to do with hardworking people, it has to do with negligent slum lords who dont do anything to better a property.

@James,
the COMMENT has nothing to do with hardworking people. ie, the comment is directed at the slumlords who dont do anything to better a property. I honestly feel bad that the people living there are not being treated better.

I have a feeling the numerous working class families, some of whom have been calling that place home for decades, are going to be less thrilled about this than some of you who have little more to complain about than “It’s an eyesore”. It’s a home. It’s my home, and I cannot express how angry I am about this. All these yuppies getting drawn to the Montrose and the Heights, and then when they get here, all they want to do is change it and shut out the people who live there. Ugh.

I thought I already posted this, but maybe not. Look, I live there. I LOVE it. Lots of working class families live there; some have called that place home for DECADES. I find it repugnant that monied people end up drawn to places like the Montrose and the Heights presumably for their reputation as “hip” places to live, and then end up trying to whitewash the place and change it into something appropriately yuppie. Some of you are applauding the loss of housing for an entire community simply because you think where they live is an “eyesore”. Shame on you.

Creech: Rail is nicer than buses. Its arrival and departure are predictable, moreso than buses. There are numerous entrances and exits to each rail car, too, and they’re at ground level (so that the handicapped can swiftly board too, without delaying the departure). Traffic ties up buses, which burn fossil fuels and worsen our already carcinogenic air. Rail, on the other hand, can be fueled by electricity from green sources like hydro, solar and wind.

Heights Cougars: In Dallas, one can walk from home to the rail. In Houston, one has to carpool to cheap parking locales and then rail in to one’s job. Since Houston has over ten times less rail than Houston, rider density is therefore much more substantial.

There is no logical connection between fewer track miles and higher ridership density. Much of the Metro ridership is just as a shuttle for Med Center employees from the remote lots to the Med Center. Many of the Med Center train riders are still driving a car to town then shuttling to work.

I can believe that Houston’s single operating rail line has high ridership because it is strategically placed, running through the best part of the city for that sort of thing. I’ve taken it before and I can see it’s much better than buses that would serve the same route. I have also taken trains in Philadelphia, Washington D.C., Chicago, and London. Anybody who compares those system to a bus has never taken the commuter train.

Yes it does. And then all the displaced people end up finding some other place where there’s cheap rent, and going to live there, and then the yuppies decide that we’ve cleaned it up enough that they want it, and they’ll come and take that too.

This brings back so many memories from my childhood. I had a lot of fun growing up there, going to Crockett… I can’t speak for now, but it was a really tight knit community when I lived there in the 80’s.

People that rent should buy a house because you’re paying more in rent and you’ll never own that Apartment. I used to rent, when I was single, but once I get married I bought a home and have three more years to pay it off. A fifteen year mortgage goes by real fast.

Josh, believe me when I say you can afford the down payment if you just live outside the loop in a rental property that is not insanely priced! You will never make any progress paying those inflated rental rates.

jeez, it’s a good thing to clean up this city. I love my house and my neighborhood (I’m not in the heights), but unfortunately there are horrendouse apartments just a couple blocks from me. They barely look livable…I would be thrilled to see those places leveled.

Don Jose, I am in the process of doing just that. Affordable rents inside of the loop will soon be a thing of the past. Unfortunately, these dime a dozen luxury units won’t be luxurious in a few years.

What is happening here is what NYC started experiencing during the early nineties. After the housing stock was refreshed there were no more affordable rents other than crack infested neighborhoods. Imaging that is with rental controls but here in Texas, without controls, the sky is the limit.

Most of the “Luxury” apartments that are replacing the older more affordable apartments are sitting empty now. It really looks like they are over-saturated and the bubble will burst and the rent will drop. There just aren’t enough people willing to pay $1300 for a one bedroom apartment OUTSIDE of the loop when they can buy a house just little further away and be in the relatively same area and pay about the same on mortgage.

I’m not talking about buying a house in the suburbs either because that’s just a complete waste of money for most people given that the house never gains a penny in value and any savings goes up in smoke while you’re sitting in traffic.

The current flats are surrounded by single lane asphalt streets, with the exception of the Taylor overpass. Nearby Studewood park has had a facelift with new bike trails that lead all the way to downtown. In theory, renters could ride a bike or even walk to downtown from these new flats. I hope the developer will pay for new concrete roads to replace the current asphalts. And enough of the “cease pool” apartments. These flats were there during the good times and bad times of the Heights. The neighborhood is dotted with them. If you don’t like them or the immigrants that live in them, move to the cookie cutter houses in Katy or The Woodlands,

Houstonian – how many miles of Light Rail are coming on line when the 3 new lines are completed? When do they open and where do they go – I have read other user comments in the past that Houston public transit riders numbers are way down compared to other Cities and that as opposed to Dallas who have professional transit experts running their system our Metro is stuffed with local politicans out of work and folks who have no transit experience – the past CEO and many others still tere from what I read had no public transit experience at all – how can they run these new lines and the 1 existing line if this is a political catch basin and not a professional organization. I hope by the time they open we have a new Mayor who will hire professionals at Metro with transit experinece and not political hacks who are owed a high paying job becasue of who they know or how they helped in the Mayoral election.

You’ve raised some VERY interesting points, Sammy C. And as you apparently know, there’s an election this November. What scandals will emerge AFTER then about the continued rail expansion deployment delays? We’re supposed to get 32 more miles of rail to add to the 8 that we presently have. Why won’t Metro announce an opening date? Procurement-related improprieties can’t transpire when the construction and so-called testing finally cease. Have you posted your interesting questions on Annise Parker’s mayoral campaign Facebook page yet? How about Houston Metro’s? The issues that you’ve raised warrant greater public awareness.

Chron – who are you protecting all the time with this moderation – the Mayor – shame on you – what about freee speech – please delete my account – your nothing more than a part of the Mayor’s administration – I will comment in Dallas papers – they allow free speech as opposed to your censorship by a bunch of far left liberal nuts!

I am glad that appears to be a departure from the many “cell blocks” that seem to be all too common in the newer rental developments. Also it’s great that it’s across from the park and near bikeways etc… cool project! Now let’s see what actually happens.

The deal has not closed yet that’s probably why the renters haven’t been notified, they have to give you written notice.
This happened to me once in calif, the govt bought the building for HUD people, we all woke up one day to find an eviction notice on the door, we had 30 days to move.

The problem is so many people are ignorant.. they keep thinking this is skylane apts.. Not knowing that the apt was bought from them a year ago and renovated.. 90 % of the trouble making tenets were snown the exit.. When I first moved here I will say at leas 95% of the apts were empty and being renovated.. What I have here is now is a quite , freindly little area where the biggest problem is the mail man putting the wrong mail in your box.. The majority of people leaving here are 20 something collage kids. A few familes.. and really I would take this design over another boring post modern looking place.. which is will only look like the last one hundred places people look at when they went apt hunting.. I am willing to bet most of the people who call it a eye swore hae neve even been inside of the complex itself. Goving of some idea of the place that has not been true for years